Ella Village Tour with Local

You will be starting your tour at 9:00 am from the Mirissa Kade Junction in Ella. Ensure that you have breakfast before starting the tour, as you won’t be stopping for food until lunchtime. There will be a classic Landmaster vehicle arriving to pick you up. After traveling along the bumpy country tracks for over half an hour, you will reach a pretty rustic village with friendly natives. This is Etili. Your guide will show you around the village and introduce you to some of the locals. And you will have a chance to see how they spend their lives. At 10:00 am, you will be taken a tour of the villagers’ china cultivation fields. ‘Chena’ cultivation is form of seasonal cultivation practiced by the locals of the island to maximize the effects of the monsoonal rains.

At 11:00 am you will finish the tour on the banks of a lake. You will find a little boat waiting to take you on a safari. You can then wear the life jackets that are provided to you and start your colorful journey. Your guide will point out the fauna and flora along the way. There is a chance that you may see Sri Lankan Elephants drinking water along the banks, or some monkeys swinging through the trees, or even a peacock dancing on a large flat rock. If you bring your binoculars you can do some proper birdwatching. The photography opportunities here are phenomenal. You can also relax onboard with a nice chilled beer in hand, if you like. At 12:30 pm you will be returning to the village for lunch. This will be authentic Sri Lankan food cooked in clay pots over a wood fire at one of the villagers’ homes. After you’ve eaten the deliciously spicy food, you can cool your tongue with a desert of buffalo curd and treacle.

At 1:30 pm you will be going to a field to do some ecological work. You will be planting a tree sapling that will last for the future. After the planting, your guide will take you on a short hike to a nearby viewpoint. This will be a place for some great photographs. You will be given a mug of herbal tea, at this point, which will refresh you. Once you return to the village at approximately 4:00 pm, you will be taken to the lake once again. Here you will have a chance to watch the sunset till 5:00 pm. At this point in time, your village experience will come to an end; and you will be dropped off back at your hotel in Ella.